


Loss - Curtis Sister

by eliniel



Series: Outsiders Requests [7]
Category: The Outsiders - All Media Types
Genre: Car Accident, Deaf Character, Death, Family, Injury, Loss, Sadness, car crash, hearing impairment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-19
Updated: 2019-06-19
Packaged: 2020-05-15 00:42:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19284589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eliniel/pseuds/eliniel
Summary: Tumblr requests for a Curtis sister with a hearing or vision impairment. Tuesday belongs to the requester, @sixties-sodapop on Tumblr.





	Loss - Curtis Sister

When I woke up, everything was dark and eerily quiet. I blinked my eyes several times, trying to clear them, but it didn’t seem to help. 

I turned my head to the side, and felt something wrapped around my head. Confusion spread over my body- and something else, too. I couldn’t place it, but goosebumps spread down my arms, making my hair stand on end. 

Was...was this dread?

_We were...we were just out to do a little grocery shopping. Me, mom, and dad, too. The boys wanted to stay home. But, Darry and I were going away to college soon. I wanted to spend all the time I could with them before I left._

_Mom suggested we stop in at one of the clothing shops afterwards and get me a couple new outfits while dad went to check out the sporting good’s store- to see if he could find something for Darry and his coming football career._

_“It’s hot in Texas,” she had told me. “You’re gonna want more shorts, right?”_

Panic welled up inside of me and I sat up, quickly. Something pulled in the bend of my elbow. With my other hand, I reached over and felt something taped to my arm. Terror clawed up my throat and my chest started heaving but-

That’s weird. I know I’m breathing- I can feel it. Why-why can’t I hear it? I should be able to hear… What-what the-

I felt someone sit down on the side of- was I in a bed? They put their hands on top of my arms. I could tell they were trying to calm me down but they’re not telling me what’s happened or why I’m here. It just made it worse.

_After we’d gotten everything mom thought I’d needed for school next year, we headed out. Dad had finished before we did, and he was waiting at the car with a smile and a milkshake for each of us. Two vanillas for him and mom, strawberry for me._

_“Don’t tell the boys,” he’d said. “Our little secret.” He held a hand up to his lips. It made me giggle. I loved my parents very much._

The person sitting on the bed with me was talking. I could feel the vibration of words through their hands. I paused, trying to listen. I shook my head. Nothing worked. They stopped and shifted a little. 

Whoever it was stood up again, but they moved closer to me. Their shirt barely brushed my arm, but I still felt it. My head bobbed slightly. What was around my head? A bandage? Whatever it was, it was being unwound. 

With each layer gone, light slowly filtered in. A mesh pattern filled my eyes. Gauze. It was a bandage. I blinked a few times, trying to clear my thoughts and my memory. What on earth happened?

_Once we’d gotten rid of any milkshake-y evidence, we were on the road back home. I was animatedly going on about what I’d read about the campus and the town surrounding it._

_“There are tons of jobs for students, too,” I informed them. “So maybe I can get one and help pay for my books or somethin’.”_

_“That’s great, honey,” dad replied, smiling at me from the rear view mirror. Mom sighed, happily._

_“I’m so happy you two are goin’ to college,” she started. She reached across the front console and squeezed dad’s arm. “We never had the opportunity and I’m overjoyed that you both have somethin’ that you’re passionate about. I just hope Pony and Soda are the same way.”_

The gauze was lifted from my face. The bright lights made me squint and I lifted one hand to shield them. The pull in my arm was back, so I glanced down and saw an IV sticking out. I felt my face drain of blood and my head swam, my body threatening to pass out. 

I felt fingers under my chin and a gentle tug. I looked up and saw my twin brother sitting on the bed in front of me. But he-he looked...something was wrong.

Something was very wrong. 

_I grinned wide enough to show my teeth. She was right. I knew what I wanted to do with my life. Darry, too._

_I was really excited about being on my home, too. I was going to miss everyone here, sure, but this was a new chapter in my life. If that’s not exciting, then I don’t know what is._

_“Oh, shoot,” mom said from the front seat. “I forgot flour while we were out.”_

_“That’s alright, honey,” dad assured her. “We aren’t too far away from the store. We’ll just go back real quick.” He flipped his turn signal on and slowed down the car to turn._

Darry’s face was different. His eyes were puffy, dark circles underneath. His cheeks were sunken, and his lips so pale they were nearly white. He looked sick. My brow furrowed and I looked around the rest of the room. 

I was in a hospital room. Sodapop was asleep in a chair on the other side of the room, his chin resting against his chest, and his long, greasy hair hanging over his eyes. Ponyboy was curled up in the empty bed to the right of me, covered with a thin hospital blanket. His nose was red, his closed eyes puffy. 

My eyes slid back to Darry. 

“Tuesday?” he said. Or, I assumed that’s what he said. I mean- I know what my own name looks like on other peoples’ lips.

The only problem was that.. I couldn’t hear it.

_Dad looked both ways before turning. That is one thing I remember distinctly, because what happened next seemed so ridiculous to me._

_He started pulling back out onto the road. When I turned to look out my window, I saw him. He’d come out of nowhere, driving fast. So, so fast._

_I didn’t have time to do anything more than gasp before he smashed right into our car._

“Darry?” I said. I felt my voice working, my mouth forming the word. But...there was no sound...

My brother must’ve been able to read it on my face. He turned towards the door and my eyes followed. A man in a white coat was heading in, a nurse with a clipboard on his heels. Her mouth was moving. He reached back for the paperwork. She reached out and handed it to him. 

The doctor and Darry talked back and forth for a few minutes. My eyes followed the conversation, trying to pick up on words, but they were speaking too fast. Finally, I got fed up.

“What’s happened?” I yelled. They both stopped and turned to me with wide eyes. Soda jumped awake in his chair. 

_The force of the impact to the front of the car forced my body to one side. I hit my head against the window next to me. It made me groan, loudly and I heard a ringing in my ears._

_Time seemed to slow and I saw mom turn to look at me._

_“Tuesday!” she cried._

_“Mom?”_

_But, the car wasn’t finished moving._

My brother heaved a sigh and nodded to the doctor, who was eyeing him, waiting for an answer. He handed the file to me. I set it down in my lap and started reading.

Tuesday Lynn Curtis. Okay, that’s me.

Car accident. Right. With mom and dad.

Trauma to head. D-detached retinas. Reattached through surgery. 

W-what?

Temporal bone fracture. Ruptured ear drums. Surgical repairment, but permanent loss of hearing possible.

I’m...deaf?

A tear fell onto the paper under me. The ink welled up in the drop. 

I looked up at Darry, eyes wide, unwanted tears streaming down my cheeks. His entire face was a picture of grief. He averted his eyes from mine and nodded. 

_The car that had just crashed into us kept going. I could hear the squeal of brakes, but it wasn’t fast enough._

_Our car started flipping._

_The impact was so hard- the driver in the other car driving so fast- our car turned over in the air multiple times. My seatbelt cut into my neck and I couldn’t control my arms as they flung out with the movement._

_My head bounced off the window a few more times._

_When the car finally slid to a stop, completely upside down, the edges of my vision were fuzzy._

_The last thing I remember before blacking out completely is seeing my father’s glassy, unfocused eyes in the rear view mirror, blood dripping from his ear to the roof of the car._

“Mom? A-and dad?” I said, my voice shaky. 

Tears welled up in my brother’s eyes. He took a deep, shuddering breath, trying to keep himself from breaking.

Darry shook his head. 

A sob escaped my lips and I threw the clipboard. It hit the wall and landed on the floor. I dropped my face into my hands and bawled. I’m sure they were loud, awful, heartbreaking cries. 

I’d never felt anguish before. I imagine this is what it felt like. 

I felt Darry gather me up in his arms. His shoulders shook as he cried with me. I don’t know how long we sat like that. It had to have been a long time. 

When we separated, my other two brothers were sitting on the other side of the bed. Their faces- they broke my heart even more than it already was. Pony was sniffling and wiping his nose, but Soda held up a piece of paper for me to see. 

_We’ll get through this together._


End file.
